Children's home run by Calderdale Council in Calderdale

Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 1 SC034953 Registered provider: Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to five children or young people aged 12 to 18 years. Care is provided for children and young people who need a stable placement until they can achieve independence or until their 18th birthday. The home also accommodates children and young people who are in the process of being reunited with their families or carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 4 December 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/12/2018 Full Outstanding 17/10/2017 Full Outstanding 09/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)) 11/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

*The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; 11/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 4 that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally.

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to continuing to promote school attendance for all children and providing formal and informal learning opportunities and engagement when children are not in school. 11/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child— 11/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 5 is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 11/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

*The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints 11/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 6 received.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Not all the children and young people have positive daily routines. The staff are not always successful in engaging them in meaningful activities. Consequently, some of the children and young people are out of the home for long periods of time, when they engage in substance misuse and high-risk criminal activity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children’s and young people’s attendance in education varies. Some of them have been out of education for a long time; others have limited timetables and sporadic attendance. Those children and young people not attending school do not have consistently positive daily experiences. The poor routine is affecting the emotional and physical well-being of some.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children’s and young people’s quality of health varies. The staff try to promote healthy lifestyles. Staff advice has no impact on some of the children and young people, and some continue to engage in activities that are detrimental to their physical and emotional well-being. However, some attend routine appointments and maintain good physical health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children’s and young people’s emotional well-being varies. The staff consult with specialist therapists on a weekly basis, to gain advice about how best to support the children and young people. Some of them maintain positive emotional well-being, and some engage with specialist therapy services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children and young people learn a range of skills which will help them to be as independent as possible in later life. The skills they learn include cooking, budgeting, cleaning and doing their laundry.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some of the children and young people engage well in activities with the staff. Some of them enjoy rugby, football, and climbing. All of them enjoyed going on holiday.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Procedures to follow up safeguarding concerns are not being used. Consequently, there is a risk that serious issues and potential poor practice will not be identified or addressed. Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 7 The systems for recording safeguarding issues and significant incidents are not in use. This hinders the managers from identifying and addressing poor staff practice and prevalent risks to the children and young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

The staff try to educate the children and young people about risks, such as substance misuse, going missing from home and becoming involved in crime. This has had no impact on some of the children and young people, and they continue to engage in activities which put them at risk of harm.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Risk assessments and missing from home plans are not consistent in quality and detail. Some of the plans lack key information, such as current strategies to manage risk and dates, which would help staff identify the most prevalent risks. The lack of clarity in risk assessments has led to inconsistency in risk management practice because the staff are not always clear about what is expected. This increases risk for children and young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Some of the children and young people go missing from home very frequently. When the children and young people go missing from home, staff do go out and look for them and work closely with the police to try to locate the children and young people as quickly as possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s acting manager has been in post for one week. The deputy and the staff did not feel well supported by previous management arrangements. They reported that they are looking forward to the new leadership support. The new acting manager and the senior managers are ambitious and want to improve practice to address shortfalls identified at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The managers are hindered from identifying areas of strength and areas for development. The poor use of recording systems does not support managers to have robust oversight and monitoring of staff practice and significant incidents, and, consequently, in safeguarding the children and young people and in the evaluation of progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professionals’ views about the home vary. Some professionals feel that the staff lack the required focus on safeguarding and are unable to promote positive routines. Other professionals reported good communication and collaborative working. The staff attend regular meetings with a range of professionals in order to share information about the wider issues related to helping to keep some of the children and young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The regulatory body is not notified of significant events, which hinders its oversight of safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not functioning in line with the statement of purpose. The individual needs of all the children and young people are not being fully met. The staff are not successful in engaging all the children and young people in taking full advantage of services, Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 8 activities and opportunities, which would help them to maximise their potential.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Calderdale School Effectiveness Service, 2nd Floor, Westgate House, Westgate, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 1PS

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC034953 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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